Even as they helped police investigate and arrest their own transit enforcement officers, TTC officials have continued to fight to have greater policing powers restored to the transit system’s enforcement unit.

The Toronto Police Services Board revoked the TTC’s special constable status in 2010 amid allegations that transit officers were over-stepping their authority. Discussions about whether the TTC should have that status restored have continued ever since.

Tuesday’s news that eight TTC officers were fired for allegedly writing up fake provincial fines to homeless people might have cooled that prospect.

The fired officers, including five who have been charged with attempting to obstruct justice and fabricate evidence, are alleged to have written hundreds of tickets to disguise running errands, surfing the web and meeting for romantic trysts when they should have been on the job.

But TTC chair Karen Stintz thinks the scandal may actually have offered reassurance that the TTC has a hand on its officers. When TTC CEO Andy Byford reached out to ask Police Chief Bill Blair to help investigate the TTC officers, “I think the chief took that as a good sign that we were taking seriously the behaviour of some of these guys,” she said.

Currently, TTC officers act as uniformed security, ticketing panhandlers and turnstile jumpers. A return to special constables means they would no longer have to wait for Toronto police to arrest people.

That’s a frightening prospect, says former police board member, Councillor Adam Vaughan, who pushed to strip the TTC of that power. “Imagine giving these guys weapons and the power of arrest. God knows what would have happened,” he said.

In 2008, the TTC considered equipping its officers with Tasers in addition to their batons, handcuffs and pepper foam. That didn’t happen. They no longer carry the pepper foam.

“Policing should be done by police and transit should be delivered by transit officials, and when the two start to mix and match their obligations you end up with these monstrous hybrids that spiral out of control. Everything that was said and done by the Police Services Board was totally vindicated by the (alleged) behaviour of these rogue officers,” Vaughan said.

Councillor Michael Thompson, a member of the police board, says he’s aware of the TTC’s desire to have the special constable status reinstated but he would need a lot more information before deciding whether special constable status should be returned to the TTC.

“That charges were laid, I don’t think that’s sufficient to simply say you wouldn’t consider examining the special constable request,” he said.

Whatever happens, it must be done within a larger look at the costs and the security the TTC and police provide. Are there enough uniforms on the TTC to act as an effective deterrent to crime? He said he occasionally sees TTC officers when he periodically rides the subway, but doesn’t see police.

Is patrolling the subway the best use of police time? Thompson says that’s not clear.

The TTC’s acting chief service officer, Chris Upfold, who is charge of the enforcement squad, said the TTC is close to finalizing what it hopes will be a new agreement with police over special constable authority. But the timelines aren’t clear.

“I don’t think this incident, these arrests and dismissals have to fundamentally affect why it is a benefit for the TTC to have special constable status,” he said.

“A transit enforcement officer is simply a citizen wearing a uniform with the ability to issue provincial offence tickets. They have the powers of citizen arrest but they don’t have any powers beyond that,” he said. “When they need the tools a police officer has, they have to call them. So for transporting somebody, for detaining them, for just questioning them, they have to just try to get the person to stay there until the police get there.”

But the biggest benefit of uniformed officers in the system, said Upfold, is they help riders feel safe.

After losing their special constable status and watching their ranks cut as the TTC redeployed half its enforcement squad, Tuesday’s firings came as a body blow to the 32 officers remaining in the 40-member unit, said one unnamed officer.

The officer described the TTC uniform as tarnished by the scandal, saying, “I’m going to have to work harder, be extra professional and be extra kind and extra caring.”

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